Sherlock: No More Than Three Episodes A Year

Rebecca Eaton, executive producer of Sherlock, has insisted the detective drama will only have three episodes per season.

Eaton, who is the executive producer for American broadcaster PBS, was discussing the format of Sherlock during an interview with Collider. So far two seasons of Sherlock have aired on BBC One (in the UK) and PBS but each season has only consisted of three episodes. There have been calls from some quarters for the BBC to increase the number of episodes per season.

In the interview with Collider though Eaton insists Sherlock will remain at three episodes per season because of the work demands on writers Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss as well as lead stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. ‘Steven crafts them, and Mark writes some of them. It’s a lot of work, and Steven also does Doctor Who and he worked on Tintin, so there couldn’t be more than three….I think there will only ever be three at a time….It’s getting harder and harder to do another season, not just because Benedict and Martin Freeman are getting such high profiles, but Steven and Mark are busy and in demand.’

A third season of Sherlock has been ordered by the BBC and is expected to be filmed later this year and broadcast next year. Benedict Cumberbatch is currently filming his role on J.J Abrams untitled Star Trek sequel while Martin Freeman is currently in New Zealand filming for The Hobbit. The seventh season of Doctor Who is currently in production with Steven Moffat once again acting as show-runner and its expected Mark Gatiss will pen an episode of the new series.

In America CBS is currently developing its own modern-day version of Sherlock titled Elementary. The pilot is based in New York and will star Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu. Sherlock producer Sue Vertue has been critical of the CBS pilot and warned if there are too many similarities between it and Sherlock she will consider legal action.